SLS Awards

The SLS’s Chief Returning Officer (CRO) is in charge of overseeing SLS Awards processes under By-law 4 - Awards, including Graduation Awards, Community Awards, and the Truth & Reconciliation Teaching Award. You can get in contact with the CRO at elections.sls@gmail.com, and find past recipients below.

List of Awards

Graduation Awards

• Class Valedictorian Award

• John Willis Award for Leadership and Gina Caldarelli Memorial Prize for Spirit

• Hail and Farewell Speaker Award

• Alan Mewett Award for Excellence in Teaching

• SLS Staff Appreciation Award

Community Awards

• First-Year Community Builder Award

• Upper-Year Mentorship Award

• Friend of the SLS Award

Truth & Reconciliation Teaching Award

• Truth & Reconciliation Teaching Award

Year Designations

Year is defined in in section 11 of By-law 3 - Elections.

Note: “Upper Year” includes anyone in the second or higher year of the JD program or a joint-degree program. For example, a JD/MBA student in the second (MBA) year of the four-year program would be a “Joint-degree Upper Year student who is not graduating” and would therefore be Year II.

For full details about how to determine your Year, please consult section 11 of By-law 3 - Elections. If there is still confusion, please consult the CRO.

Graduation Awards

Students in Year III only may submit nominations for these awards, in accordance with By-law 4 - Awards and the timeline listed above. The CRO will announce the open of nominations via listserv email. These awards are selected by an SLS committee, based on nomination statements.

Nominations

Students in Year III (i.e. graduating students) only may submit nominations for Graduation Awards.

Year III students may not self-nominate, but can nominate up to three individuals for each award. A nominee shall require at least three nominations to appear on the ballot.

Nominees eligible to be on the ballot will have the chance to decline the nomination within two business days after the nomination period closes.

Voting

Starting in 2021, Graduation Awards are voted on using ranked ballots (essentially a single transferrable vote system). A ranking of #1 denotes first choice. The first nominee to receive a majority of votes will win the award. Note that this election will be taking place on a different system than the SLS Elections and Truth & Reconciliation Teaching Award. The CRO will send unique links to each Year III student.

Student Award Descriptions

Students may nominate their graduating classmates for these award. Students nominated will have the option to accept or reject the nomination prior to the start of student voting.

Class Valedictorian Award

The Class Valedictorian Award will be given to the graduating student selected by their fellow graduands who will present the valedictory address at the post-Convocation ceremony.

John Willis Award for Leadership and Gina Caldarelli Memorial Prize for Spirit

The John Willis Award for Leadership and Gina Caldarelli Memorial Prize for Spirit will be given at the post-Convocation ceremony to the graduating student who best exemplifies the spirit of leadership at the law school as selected by their fellow graduands.

Faculty and Staff Award Descriptions

Hail and Farewell Speaker Award

The Hail & Farewell Speaker Award will be given to one professor, as selected by the graduating class, who will present the Hail and Farewell address the graduating class on behalf of all faculty members at the post-Convocation ceremony.

Alan Mewett Award for Excellence in Teaching

The Alan Mewett Award for Excellence in Teaching will be given to one professor who exhibits excellence in teaching, as selected by the graduating class, at the post-Convocation ceremony.

SLS Staff Appreciation Award

The SLS Staff Appreciation Award will be given at the post-Convocation ceremony to one staff member at the law school whom the graduating class wishes to recognize for their hard work.

Results

Results for Graduation Awards will be made available alongside the results of the Spring General Election.

Community Awards

Students in Year I and Year II only may submit nominations for these awards, in accordance with By-law 4 - Awards and the timeline listed above. The CRO will announce the open of nominations via listserv email. These awards are selected by an SLS committee, based on nomination statements.

First-Year Community Builder Award

The First-Year Community Builder Award will be given to up to two (2) Year I students who have made significant efforts to bring their peers together and build a supportive community at the law school.

The Upper-Year Mentorship Award

“Upper-Year Mentorship Award” shall be given to up to three (3) Year II or III students and is intended to recognize outstanding mentorship to Members in years below them in both official and unofficial capacities.

Nominator Eligibility

Students in Year I may nominate fellow Year I students for the First-Year Community Builder Award and may nominate Year II or Year III students for the Upper-Year Mentorship Award.

Students in Year II may nominate Year III students or a Year II student where that student is pursuing a dual degree program and is at least one (1) year ahead in the program for an Upper-Year Mentorship Award.

Year is defined in in section 11 of By-law 3 - Elections. Please see the quick reference table above.

Nominations

For the First-Year Community Builder Award and Upper-Year Mentorship Award, students may submit more than one nomination. When submitting a nomination for either of these awards, students must include:

1. A nomination statement of no more than 250 words for each nomination; and

2. An email address where the CRO can notify the nominee of their nomination.

These nominations should be submitted to the CRO at elections.sls@gmail.com, who will forward them to the Awards Sub-Committee of the Student Life and Academic Committee (SLAC).

Awards Sub-Committee

A sub-committee of shall determine the recipients of the First-Year Community Builder Award and Upper-Year Mentorship Award, and shall include the following members:

• The President, as chair;

• Three (3) members appointed from and by SFC; and

• Three (3) members appointed from and by SLAC.

The Awards Sub-Committee shall have at least one member in total from each Year.

Friend of the SLS Award

The Friend of the SLS Award shall be given to up to one (1) professor or staff member who is an ally to law students and takes concrete actions to address law students’ concerns. This award will be internally nominated and awarded by the Student Life and Academic Committee, in consultation with the Social Affairs Committee.

Results for the First-Year Community Builder Award, Upper-Year Mentorship Award, and Friend of the SLS Award will be made available alongside the results of the Spring General Election.

Truth & Reconciliation Teaching Award

Students in all years may submit nominations for these awards, in accordance with By-law 4 - Awards and the timeline listed above. The CRO will announce the open of nominations via listserv email. These awards are selected by an SLS committee, based on nomination statements.

Description & Purpose

In February 2020, the Students’ Law Society (SLS) partnered with the Indigenous Law Students’ Association and the Indigenous Initiatives Office to introduce the Truth & Reconciliation Teaching Award (TRTA). The TRTA is intended to recognize professors at the Faculty of Law who have made an outstanding contribution to the implementation of Call to Action #28 from Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's Final Report (TRC) by teaching course content involving Indigenous perspectives, topics, and law, as well as (Canadian) Aboriginal law, and to encourage professors to integrate this content into the curriculum by signaling that it is important to our students that the Faculty of Law prioritize our commitment to Truth and Reconciliation.

Call to Action #28 reads as:

In order to redress the legacy of residential schools and advance the process of Canadian reconciliation, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission makes the following calls to action.
...
28. We call upon law schools in Canada to require all law students to take a course in Aboriginal people and the law, which includes the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and Aboriginal rights, Indigenous law, and Aboriginal–Crown relations. This will require skills-based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and antiracism.

Professor Eligibility

The Truth & Reconciliation Teaching Award may be awarded to up to

• (1) full-time faculty member; and

• (1) adjunct faculty member

Up to two awards total may be awarded in any given year. A professor is not eligible to receive the award more than once in three convocation cycles. A list of past recipients is listed below.

Past Recipients

Recipients may not win the award more than once in three convocation cycles.

Adjunct Faculty

2023 - Yasmin Dawood

2022 - No award given

2021 - Bryce Edwards

2020 - Kerry Wilkins

 Full-Time Faculty

2023 - No award given

2022 - No award given

2021 - Angela Fernandez

2020 - Kent Roach

Nomination Process

In late February or March, the CRO will put out a call for nominations (requiring a 250-400 word statement). All JD and joint-program students are eligible to nominate professors. You may choose what to include in your nomination statement and personalize it as appropriate for you. In general, the statement should include:

1. What you learned about Indigenous perspectives, topics, and law and/or Canadian Aboriginal law in the professor's class; and

2. Why the professor did an excellent job of teaching this content. 

Nomination statements must be emailed to the SLS CRO (elections.sls@gmail.com) by the nomination deadline.

Please note that by submitting a nomination statement, students agree that the statement may be shared with the Manager, Indigenous Initiatives and the Dean’s Committee for Truth and Reconciliation Implementation and kept in the Faculty of Law and SLS records as one part of assessing the Faculty of Law’s progress in the implementation of TRC Call to Action #28.

Nomination Committee

The SLS CRO will provide nomination statements received by the nominations deadline to the Nomination Committee. The Nomination Committee will send the list of selected nominees with nomination statements to the SLS CRO, who will release the list to all students by email before the vote takes place during the SLS Spring Elections in March.

1. The Decanal Advisor on Indigenous Issues (faculty member);

2. The Manager, Indigenous Initiatives Office (staff member);

3. One (1) Indigenous Law Students’ Association member; and

4. One (1) SLS Executive Committee member.

The student members of the Nomination Committee are not eligible to submit a nomination.

Voting Process and Voter Eligibility

All JD and joint-program students will be eligible to vote for each category (full-time and adjunct faculty members). The professor in each category with the most votes will win. The voting process will be managed by the SLS CRO and aligned with the timeline for the SLS Spring General Election. Students will vote on the same platform as for SLS Elections. Unlike SLS Graduation Awards, students in all years will be able to vote for the TRTA.

Award

The SLS will announce the award recipient(s) to all students by email after the vote is counted by the CRO. The SLS will also forward the award recipient(s) and nomination statement(s) to the Assistant Dean, Student Programs for announcement to all faculty and staff. The professors(s) will receive the award at convocation.

The SLS thanks the Indigenous Law Students’ Association and the Indigenous Initiatives Office for their partnership in developing this award.

Past Recipients

2024 Award Recipients

Truth & Reconciliation Teaching Award:
Full-Time Faculty - John Borrows

Adjunct - David Walders

Graduation Awards:

Valedictorian - Justin Kim

John Willis Award for Leadership and Gina Caldarelli Memorial Prize for Spirit - Justin Kim

Hail & Farewell Speaker Award - Professor Martha Shaffer

Mewett Award for Teaching Excellence - Professor Martha Shaffer

SLS Staff Appreciation Award - Theresa Chan

Community Awards:

Upper-Year Mentorship Awards - Marisa Benjamin, Amy Kwong, and Alyssa Wong

Friend of the SLS Award - Sara Faherty

Student Graduation Awards

John Willis Award for Leadership and
Gina Caldarelli Memorial Prize for Spirit

2023 - Meaza Damte

2022 - Willem Crispin-Frei

2021 - Kristy Milland

2020 - Leslie Anne St. Amour

2019 - Solomon McKenzie

2018 - Katie Longo

2017 - Sinéad Charbonneau, Rona Ghanbari, Sahar Kamali

2016 - Jennifer Aziz

2015 - Natalie Lum-Tai

2014 - Brendan Stevens

2013 - Katherine Jessup Genest

2012 - Aaron Rankin

2011 - Karim Amlani

2010 - Isaac Tang

2009 - Kaley Puffer

2008 - ?

2007 - Saad Ahmed

2006 - Angela Chu

2005 - Miranda Gass-Donnelly

2004 - Emily Mak

2003 - Beth Given

Truth & Reconciliation Teaching Award

Faculty and Staff Graduation Awards